20200116
SUPERSTITIOUS
FAITH
16 January,
2020, Thursday, 1st Week in Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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1 Samuel 4:1-11 ©
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Israel is defeated and the ark of God is captured
It happened at
that time that the Philistines mustered to fight Israel and Israel went out to
meet them in battle, encamping near Ebenezer while the Philistines were
encamped at Aphek. The Philistines drew up their battle line against Israel,
the battle was hotly engaged, and Israel was defeated by the Philistines and
about four thousand of their army were killed on the field. The troops returned
to the camp and the elders of Israel said, ‘Why has the Lord allowed us to be
defeated today by the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of our God from Shiloh
so that it may come among us and rescue us from the power of our enemies.’’ So
the troops sent to Shiloh and brought away the ark of the Lord of Hosts, he who
is seated on the cherubs; the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, came with
the ark. When the ark of the Lord arrived in the camp, all Israel gave a great
shout so that the earth resounded. When the Philistines heard the noise of the
shouting, they said, ‘What can this great shouting in the Hebrew camp mean?’
And they realised that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp. At this the
Philistines were afraid; and they said, ‘God has come to the camp.’ ‘Alas!’
they cried ‘This has never happened before. Alas! Who will save us from the
power of this mighty God? It was he who struck down Egypt with every kind of
plague! But take courage and be men, Philistines, or you will become slaves to
the Hebrews as they have been slaves to you. Be men and fight.’ So the
Philistines joined battle and Israel was defeated, each man fleeing to his
tent. The slaughter was great indeed, and there fell of the Israelites thirty
thousand foot soldiers. The ark of God was captured too, and the two sons of
Eli died, Hophni and Phinehas.
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm 43(44):10-11,14-15,24-25 ©
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Redeem
us, O Lord, because of your love.
Yet
now you have rejected us, disgraced us;
you
no longer go forth with our armies.
You
make us retreat from the foe
and
our enemies plunder us at will.
Redeem
us, O Lord, because of your love.
You
make us the taunt of our neighbours,
the
laughing-stock of all who are near.
Among
the nations, you make us a byword,
among
the peoples a thing of derision.
Redeem
us, O Lord, because of your love.
Awake,
O Lord, why do you sleep?
Arise,
do not reject us for ever!
Why
do you hide your face
and
forget our oppression and misery?
Redeem
us, O Lord, because of your love.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Ps118:88
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Alleluia,
alleluia!
Because
of your love give me life,
and I
will do your will.
Alleluia!
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Or:
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cf.Mt4:23
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Alleluia,
alleluia!
Jesus
proclaimed the Good News of the kingdom
and
cured all kinds of sickness among the people.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Mark 1:40-45 ©
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The leprosy left the man at once, and he was cured
A leper came to
Jesus and pleaded on his knees: ‘If you want to’ he said ‘you can cure me.’
Feeling sorry for him, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him. ‘Of course
I want to!’ he said. ‘Be cured!’ And the leprosy left him at once and he was
cured. Jesus immediately sent him away and sternly ordered him, ‘Mind you say
nothing to anyone, but go and show yourself to the priest, and make the
offering for your healing prescribed by Moses as evidence of your recovery.’
The man went away, but then started talking about it freely and telling the
story everywhere, so that Jesus could no longer go openly into any town, but
had to stay outside in places where nobody lived. Even so, people from all
around would come to him.
SUPERSTITIOUS
FAITH
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ 1SM 4:1-11; Mk 1:40-45]
What does it mean to
have a superstitious faith? Superstition
is to believe that the object which we venerate or the rituals which are
performed according to the exact rite is miraculous when there is no reality or
truth in it. It is just a figment of our imagination and springs
from our fears and desires. But even believers can border on
superstitious faith when the object of belief or the ritual that is performed
truly is reflective of the reality that it seeks to convey. This is
particularly true with regard to faith in the Sacraments, especially the
Eucharist. Regardless of our personal faith or subjective response to the
object or rite performed, when such a rite is performed, Christ is present in a
par excellence manner in the bread and wine. This kind of faith is
an objective faith, or what the Church would call, ex opera operator, that is,
by the works performed.
But an objective faith
is not sufficient because it can end up often as a superstitious faith. This was the case of the Israelites
in the first reading. In the past, the Ark of the Covenant which
carried the Tablets of the Ten Commandments represented the presence of
God. It had helped Israel to win the battles against their enemies when
the Ark of the Covenant was carried with them in battle. The Ark of
the Covenant demonstrated that God, the Lord of Hosts, the Army Commander and
the battle were His. Even their enemies were aware of the power of the
Ark of the Covenant. We read in the first reading how terrified they were
when the Israelites brought the Ark of the Covenant with them to the
battlefield. “The Philistines were afraid; and they said, God has come to the
camp.’ ‘Alas!’ they cried ‘This has never happened before.
Alas! Who will save us from the power of this mighty God? It was he
who struck down Egypt with every kind of plague!”
Ironically and
shockingly, not only did Israel lose the battle this time and 30,000 lives were
lost, but most of all, “the ark of God was captured too, and the two sons of Eli died, Hophni and
Phinehas.” It was disastrous. How could such a thing happen?
God was supposed to be with them. God was present there in the Ark of the
Covenant. Yet, they lost the war, 30,000 soldiers and the Ark to the
Philistines. They were scandalized and confused. The responsorial
psalm expressed the sentiments of the Israelites. “Yet now you have
rejected us, disgraced us; you no longer go forth with our armies. You make us
retreat from the foe and our enemies plunder us at will. You make us
the taunt of our neighbours, the laughing-stock of all who are near. Among the
nations, you make us a byword, among the peoples a thing of derision.”
Indeed, in such moments,
they cried out to God and asked, “Awake, O Lord, why do you sleep? Arise, do not reject us
forever! Why do you hide your face and forget our oppression and misery?”
The answer is simple. It was not because God was asleep or that He was
not with the people in the Ark of the Covenant. It was because they did
not keep their part of the promise to be faithful to the Covenant, the laws
contained therein. They were living sinful lives in disobedience to the
Law of Moses. The priests themselves were no better. Indeed, we
read that “the sons of Eli were scoundrels; they had no regard for the Lord or
for the duties of the priests to the people … the sin of the young men was very
great in the sight of the Lord; for they treated the offerings of the Lord with
contempt. (1 Sm 2:12f, 17) Indeed, it was their sins that
caused the Lord to abandon them to themselves. Hence, we also read, “The
word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.” (1 Sm 3:1) God already forewarned Eli but
he did not act as well. “I have told him that I am about to punish his house
forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God,
and he did not restrain them. Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the
iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be expiated by sacrifice or offering forever.”
(1 Sm 3:13f)
We, too, must learn
these hard lessons from the Israelites. We cannot simply rely on the objective
faith of the Church and of our forefathers. Just relying on their faith
alone is not sufficient unless we make their faith our own. Just
depending on the faith of the Church cannot bring us far. A priest who
thinks that just because of his ordination, he is guaranteed of God’s grace for
him to be a good priest without cooperating with His grace is too naïve.
The sacrament of ordination only makes available to him the grace but he has to
make use of the graces he received and live them out in his life and ministry
so that he can be effective in the ministry. Without living a holy life,
even if he could celebrate the sacraments validly, they will be less effective
since the sacraments are efficacious not just ex opera operato when celebrated
but when it is ex opera operantis (by the faith of the person who exercises
it). Holiness of life therefore is paramount if the priest were to be
efficacious in his ministry. Otherwise, we will suffer the same fate as
Eli’s sons who were lazy, selfish and wicked.
What is said for the
priest and the sacraments that he celebrates is also true for the people who
celebrate the sacraments with him. Just because a couple celebrates the
Sacrament of Matrimony in Church, is no assurance that their marriage will be
fruitful if they do not live out the graces given through this sacrament.
We can get married in church but if we do not make use of the graces given
through the sacrament, we will not make progress in our marriage.
Similarly for those who have faith in the Eucharist. Just receiving our
Lord in the Eucharist will not transform us unless we also “do this in memory
of Him”, which means to die with Him, making ourselves a sacrifice to God and
rise with Him every day in our lives. Just celebrating the rituals
correctly will not benefit anyone unless we allow the grace of God from the
rituals to influence us in the way we live our lives. So what is
necessary for God to work wonders in us through the sacraments and sacramentals
that we use for worship and prayers is when we make an effort to die to our
sins. Without integrity of life, the worship we offer, as the Lord said,
is just words. “Because these people draw near with their mouths and
honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their worship
of me is a human commandment learned by rote.” (Isa 29:13)
We need to have faith in
God and in Christ, not just a borrowed faith but a personal faith in Him. This was the faith of the
leper. He came to the Lord, breaking the Levitical law that forbade
lepers to come close to those who are clean and healthy. But he took
courage and with faith came to the Lord and asked Him to heal him. It was
a risk he took and in humility and faith that Jesus would not drive him
away. “Feeling sorry for him, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched
him. ‘Of course I want to!’ he said. ‘Be cured!’ And the
leprosy left him at once and he was cured.'” This is the kind of faith
that is needed for one to allow the power of God to heal him. Faith means
to be receptive to His grace at work in us.
If we have this faith,
our faith will also be active, witnessing and transforming. This is illustrated in the leper when he
was cured. Although, “Jesus immediately sent him away and sternly ordered
him, ‘Mind you say nothing to anyone, but go and show yourself to the priest,
and make the offering for your healing prescribed by Moses as evidence of your
recovery.’ The man went away, but then started talking about it freely
and telling the story everywhere.” Indeed, again he was disobedient simply
because he was too excited and felt so liberated that he could not keep the
Good News to himself. When we are touched by the Lord and when we are
healed by His love, we will announce to the world what He had done for us.
Today, we must be like
Jesus. He was truly a man of faith who allowed God to work through Him. The gospel said, “Jesus could no
longer go openly into any town, but had to stay outside in places where nobody
lived. Even so, people from all around would come to him.”
Although, he was not a leper, he touched the leper and became, so to speak, a
“leper” Himself for He could no longer stay in the city but in the deserted
places like them. Jesus was the Holiness of God. He carried the
sins and brokenness of humanity in Him. But He transformed pain into
mercy, sickness into health. Whoever He touched, He healed. He
transformed as He transmitted to us the love and mercy of God. We
too must do likewise.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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